I tell you, here

Hallo!

Apa kabar teman-teman?

Berlanjut ya, masih tentang pelajaran yang aku dapatkan di tahun 2019, lanjutan dari tulisan yang kemarin, masih banyak, tapi kupilih tiga terpenting. Tulisan sebelumnya dilanjutkan karena memang sudah diniatkan harus dilanjutkan. Mungkin untuk beberapa yang membaca, tulisan-tulisan ini dinilai klise atau biasa, tapi bagi aku tulisan ini menjadi tulisan yang sakral, karena memang benar-benar aku tulis dan ditujukan untuk aku sendiri khususnya.

Jadi, mari kita lanjut. Tersisa tiga pelajaran penting yang aku dapatkan di tahun 2019 kemarin: jujur sama kemampuan dan kapasitas diri sendiri, selesaikan yang sudah dimulai, dan takut akan hal baru itu adalah wajar.

Jujur sama kemampuan dan kapasitas diri sendiri. Jujur, kalau kamu memang mampu, pasti mampu. Sedang kalau nanti gagal, ya artinya belajar lagi. Tahun ini, aku mulai belajar jujur akan kemampuan diri, mirip seperti tau diri. Kita yang lebih mengerti diri kita sendiri dibanding orang lain, kita yang tau seberapa besar kapasitas kemampuan kita. Jadi, mendengarkan diri sendiri memang perlu, tapi jangan terlalu. Jujur juga dengan segala usaha yang dilakukan, karena dengan begitu kita pun akan mendapatkan hasil yang ‘jujur’. Aku selalu percaya bahwa cara-cara baik akan menemukan terangnya sendiri, akan menemukan hasil yang baik, pula. Sedang sebaliknya, cara-cara culas dalam menggapai sesuatu itu tidak akan meletakkan kepuasan di hati kita. Itu prinsip. Awalnya aku pun masih sering culas dalam menggapai sesuatu, tapi gak tau kenapa aku gak pernah tenang setelahnya, sedangkan aku ingin hidup tenang.

Terima kasih untuk teman-teman yang sudah membantu untuk saling mengingatkan dalam hal ini. “Memang gak mudah, tapi yang penting berkah.”, begitu kata seorang teman. Sebenarnya sampai sekarang aku pun belum mengerti bagaimana kita bisa menganggap suatu keadaan itu berkah, tapi yang selalu aku ingat adalah kematian dan pertanggungjawaban supaya aku bisa terus berjalan di jalan yang gak mudah ini (jujur, aku takut kalau soal kematian). Terima kasih untuk teman-teman yang membuat aku berani mengambil jalan ini, kita jalan bareng terus, ya.

Selesaikan yang sudah dimulai. Ya, kadang ada beberapa keadaan yang membuat aku ingin mundur dari suatu hal. Padahal di awal aku masih biasa aja, tenang-tenang aja, tapi karena ada satu waktu dan keadaan yang membuat aku down dan merasa pesimis, di situlah aku ingin mundur aja. Sudah beberapa kali terjadi, dan seringnya aku mundur, hehe. Tapi yang saat ini, ada satu kejadian yang memang membuat aku ingin mundur, bahkan memang waktu itu sempat rehat dari sosial media seperti whatsapp karena entah kenapa membuka whatsapp aku akan merasa gak baik-baik aja. Sampai akhirnya menemukan tulisan di intagram dari postingannya Bang Jon (@jonathanend).

Dari tulisan itu, tiba-tiba aku kayak mendapat energi untuk melanjutkan semua yang sudah dimulai, karena setelah dipikir-pikir, meninggalkan yang sudah dimulai di tengah jalan itu kayak aku gak bertanggungjawab, bahkan dengan aku sendiri. Jadi, ya lanjut aja sampai selesai.

Takut akan hal baru itu wajar, tapi ya hadapi aja, semua akan terasa biasa-biasa aja ternyata. Seperti yang aku tulis di tulisan sebelumnya, bahwa tahun ini aku mulai memberanikan diri untuk ‘keluar’ dari segala kenyamanan yang mencoba hal-hal baru. Nervous, banget.  Perasaan takut gagal selalu aja mampir di kepala. Tapi ya gimana, aku sudah commit dengan diri aku sendiri bahwa aku harus melakukannya, jadi tetap mencoba untuk menenangkan diri (sebenarnya tetap gak bisa). Tapi syukurnya, ada teman yang mengingatkan kalau aku gak sendiri, jadi jangan takut, dan dari sana mulai ada ketenangan sedikit, lumayan. Sampai pada hari H, aku mengubur ketakutan, “oke gue coba, tenang gak sendiri.” Dan benar aja, setelah selesai, ya itu biasa-biasa aja. Segala ketakutan ternyata emang hanya di kepala aja, dan kalau kita tenang, ketakutan itu gak akan terjadi sebenarnya (ternyata lagu Rehat bener juga, hihiii). Jadi sebenarnya, semua tinggal dihadapi aja, ditunggu saja waktunya, karena pasti akan berlalu dan jadi hal yang ‘biasa’ aja.

Ya, itu tadi pelajaran yang aku dapatkan di tahun 2019, sebagai lanjutan tulisan yang kemarin. Terima kasih yang sudah antusias membaca tulisan yang mostly adalah curhat. Semoga teman-teman pun bisa mengambil baik-baiknya dari tulisan ini. Terima kasih lagi!

Hallo semuanya!

Setelah lama gak nulis, akhirnya hari ini aku mulai menulis lagi. Kemarin-kemarin mungkin memang sempat mem-publish beberapa tulisan berbahasa Inggris, tapi tulisan-tulisan tersebut diperuntukkan untuk tugas salah satu mata kuliah saja, tapi silakan kalau kalian mau membacanya di sini, hihi.

Kali ini, tulisannya agak menyerempet ke cerita dan sharing-sharing seputar kehidupan, perasaan, pikiran, dan pelajaran yang didapat belakangan ini, terutama tahun 2019. Mungkin bisa dibilang kalau tulisan ini adalah kilas balik 2019, tapi bisa juga engga, karena memang tidak akan menjelaskan secara detail kejadian-kejadian yang kualami di tahun 2019.

Sebenarnya mau menulis hal ini di awal tahun, tapi baru jodoh dengan waktunya sekarang, jadi yaudahlah, nulis aja walau (agak) terlambat, sekalian mengeluarkan uneg-uneg, hihi.

Tahun 2019 adalah tahun yang nano-nano bagi aku, karena di tahun 2019 banyak hal-hal terjadi di luar ekspetasi. Masih ingat betul waktu aku memulai tahun 2019 yang penuh dengan resolusi, tapi ya pas akhir tahun sadar kalau resolusi yang sudah dibuat hanya jadi pajangan aja.

Tahun 2019 jadi tahun pertama aku untuk memberanikan diri ‘keluar’ dari kenyamanan dan mulai berani untuk menceritakan hal yang selama ini sepertinya belum aku ceritakan ke siapapun. Di tahun ini juga aku baru pertama kalinya merasakan anxiety dan kekecewaan yang keduanya sedikit parah kadarnya. Tapi, gak ku pungkiri kalau tahun 2019 kemarin juga banyak hal-hal baik yang datang tanpa memberikan aba-aba, kaget, tapi membahagiakan. Semua kejadian-kejadian itu memberikan pelajaran dan pengalaman hidup, dan aku rasa penting buat aku ingat. Kalau dicatat takut hilang – karena memang aku pelupa:), sedangkan kalau di-publish di blog lebih aman secara keberadaan karena akan ada jejak digitalnya di sini. Penting untuk diingat oleh diri sendiri, karena sebagai alarm atau pengingat di tengah jalan untuk melanjutkan perjalanan selanjutnya.

Ini dia beberapa pelajaran yang aku dapat di tahun 2019, as a reminder saja:

Cerita, kalau itu melegakan. Seperti yang aku tulis di awal, bahwa di tahun 2019 adalah tahun pertama aku bercerita tentang apa yang belum pernah aku ceritakan ke siapapun. Awalnya memang meragukan, karena takut gak siap. Benar, belum memulai cerita pun aku sudah nangis, hehe. Tapi ternyata setelahnya itu benar-benar melegakan. Apa yang ditahan dan dipendam sejak dulu, bahkan sejak kecil bisa tercurahkan. Yang selama ini hanya dipendam sendiri dan jadi bahan tangisan hampir setiap malam menjelang tidur. Mulai hari itu, sejak bercerita, hati lebih tenang dan menerima, menerima keadaan yang ada, yang dulu hanya menjadi tangisan. Juga dengan bercerita, kita terkadang bisa menemukan solusi. Jika masalah yang kita hadapi memang buntu, setidaknya kita bisa menerima. Melalui penerimaan diri dan keadaan memang akan membuat hidup terasa lebih mudah. Terima kasih kepada seorang teman, atau sahabat, oh bahkan aku menganggapnya keluarga, yang sudah mendengar cerita pahit yang memang baru berani aku ceritakan saat itu. Aku (lebih) tenang sekarang.

Kalau itu jalan baik, teruskan walau gak ada kawan. Beberapa kali aku mencoba untuk pergi sendirian. Walau tau nanti pasti bakal awkward bertemu orang-orang baru, tapi gakpapa, aku rasa setiap manusia harus mencobanya, mencoba bersosialisasi, walau hal itu bukanlah hal yang mudah untuk semua orang. Sebenarnya, kebiasaan pergi sendiri ini sudah aku lakukan sejak SMA. Waktu itu belum terlalu sering sendiri, karena masih merasa takut. Tapi sekarang, rasanya lebih nyaman untuk pergi ke mana-mana sendiri, karena merasa lebih bebas dalam meng-explore sesuatu hal. Bahkan ada beberapa event seminar atau sebagainya yang aku sendiri pergi ke sana. “Kok gak sama temen? Gak punya temen?” sorry to say, kenapa kita harus selalu bergantung ke teman, ya?! 

Beberapa kali aku mengajak teman untuk ikut, namun tidak ada yang mau, dan itu bukan masalah, sama sekali bukan. Aku menghargai bahwa setiap orang mempunyai preferensi untuk menghabiskan waktunya untuk melakukan hal apapun, kalau teman-teman kamu gak mau, lantas apa kamu harus berhenti? Tentu enggak dong, jalan terus aja, karena supaya kita belajar bahwa kehidupan dan bagian terkecil darinya, yaitu aktivitas kita tidak harus bahkan jangan sampai selalu bergantung dengan bagaimana seseorang, salah satu contohnya bagaimana teman. “lo besok dateng gak ke workshop?” “lo besok dateng gak ke konser?” // “hm, gak tau deh, gue pengen sih, tapi gue ajak temen gue dulu, kalo gak ada yang mau, gue gak jadi ikut deh.” Well, dulu ku sering begitu. Tapi kalau dipikir-pikir, sudah berapa banyak kesempatan baik dan berapa banyak hal-hal yang aku ingin lakukan namun harus aku tunda bahkan batalkan hanya karena “gak ada temen”. Rugi ternyata. Makanya mulai tahun 2019 kemarin memang benar-benar jadi tahun untuk proses belajar.

Ya, itu hanya sebagian kecil pelajaran yang aku dapat di tahun 2019. Sebenarnya masih banyak hal lain, dan sepertinya akan berlanjut di tulisan selanjutnya (ditunggu, ya. Semoga gak lama, hehe). Terima kasih kepada yang sudah membaca, kalau ada hal yang sama boleh di-share di kolom komentar, dengan senang hati membacanya.

Hello everyone! In this writing, I’ll explain (just a bit little) content of the journal article that I have read. The title of this journal article is Need Analysis For Developing Course Book For English For Elementary School Students With Local-Content Values.  

Problem

The problem that is discussed in this journal article is how to integrate local values into English lessons at school. This is because there are some people who think that learning English at school will reduce the nationalist souls of students.

Solution

According to the author, the problem with this assumption can be solved by making a syllabus of English subject matter that contains local values in an English textbook.

Result

From the questionnaire given to 23 elementary school teachers, found answers to the problems discussed in this journal article, especially about the syllabus of the material and methods used and its relationship with the integration of local cultural values ​​with lessons. The results of the questionnaire showed that all teachers agreed that the material syllabus had an important role in the learning process, especially those discussed in this paper were in English lessons. However, 40% of the teachers stated that there was no syllabus of English subject matter in their schools. Regarding the integration of local cultural values ​​with English language lessons, all teachers agreed on that.

Then, how to integrate local cultural values ​​with English lessons?

According to the results of research conducted by the author of this journal article, the method used is to use materials such as storytelling, historical stories, etc. “Then, lessons from local wisdoms, in particular, may be taken from the meaning of local legends, folklores, special places in the village, certain traditional / monumental objects, buildings, rivers, mounts / hills, forests, and the likes. The lessons from local wisdom may contain particular meaning of norms and values ​​to understand.” (Ratri & Puspitasari, 2019). According to the research results contained in this journal article, examples of material that contains local cultural values ​​are materials for 1st grade of elementary school containing 'My Activity Helping Parents',' Frienship Honesty ',' Indonesian History: The Origin of Batu ', and etc.

With the integration of local cultural values ​​with English lessons, it is hoped that most people's worries about English language lessons that can reduce student nationalists will be lost. So that later students will still be able to learn English, without forgetting local culture. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a syllabus of English subject matter in order to fulfill this.

Thank you!

Reference:

Ratri, D.P. & Puspitasari, I. (2019). Need analysis for developing course book for english for elementary school students with local-content values. Indonesian Journal of English Education, 6 (1), 1-9, doi:http://doi.org/10.15408/ijee.v6i1.9908

English language proficiency at this time is needed because English already occupies international languages ​​or major languages ​​in the world. In a sense, English is one of the Foreign Languages ​​that must be possessed by everyone because English has been used in various fields, one of which is education.

In English lessons, the skills students must have been not just dialogues or communicated. But it also includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing. These four skills or abilities are basic abilities that must be mastered by everyone, not only in English, but in all Foreign languages.

But in this writing, the skills that will be discussed are the students' writing skills. As already explained that writing is one of the language skills that must be mastered, especially for students. The reason writing must be mastered is because sometimes there is an assignment to write scientific and non-scientific writing, in this case writing skills are needed so that the writing produced is of high quality and in accordance with the existing structure. Therefore the required methods of teaching English writing that might be applied to the teaching of other foreign languages. Based on the literature that has been read, there are two methods that teachers can use to practice the English writing skills of the students they teach, such as:

Thank you for reading, hopefully usefulJ

English is the language that we have to be able to, at least a bit little of it. Beside become International Language, English also often become a requirement for entry into a school or company. Therefore, learning English at this time may be an obligation for everyone.

In Indonesia, English learning starts at the 3rd grade elementary school level. However, at this time there are even rumors that English lessons will be deleted. Nevertheless, many parents still bring and register their children to the English tutoring place. Apparently, many parents realize and understand the importance of learning English.

Therefore, in my opinion, English teachers must improve the quality of their teaching in order to produce competent students too, of course with "fresh" methods so that students are more enthusiastic in learning English, remembering that English is one of important language learned for now.

Then, how exactly can the methods be used in learning English in the classroom?

1. The Direct Method – The direct method is successful in private language schools because this method can only be applied in small classes where all learners can receive individual attention. In the Direct method, the teachers exaggeratedly excel in keeping the mother tongue of the learners away from them. The advantage of using this method is that students are immersed in English. This is done by providing demonstrations on how to use the language with the help of realia and visual aids. Teachers who use this method teach grammar inductively, that is, the rules of grammar are not taught directly.

2. Audio-lingual – This argued that language learning is a kind of action comparable to other types of human activity. Teachers, according to behavioralist theory, produce responses through stimuli. The response is validated by the instructor and, if this reinforcement is successful, it promotes the recurrence of the response in the future. Essentially, it is based on the idea that learning a language is like developing habits. Normally, there is a lot of experience in dialogs and conversations. New language is first heard and thoroughly drilled before it is seen in its written form. Talk and drill are central to the approach. Accurate pronunciation and functional regulation are of paramount importance.

3. Total Physical Response (TPR) – It is based on the theory that memory is enhanced by a combination of physical movement. It is also closely linked to mother-tongue acquisition theories in very young children, where they respond physically to parenting. TPR as an approach to teaching a second language is based, first and foremost, on listening, and this is connected to physical actions intended to enhance the comprehension of specific basic subjects.

4. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) – Language is used to create meaningful and purposeful experiences. Learners are also able to experiment with various ways to say it. The purpose of communicative language learning is to allow learners to communicate effectively and appropriately in the various situations in which they are likely to find themselves.

5. Task-based Language Learning – In Task-based learning the main focus of the teaching is on completing a task. The task in itself is interesting to the learners and they need to use the language they already have to complete it. More attention is placed on the use of the language and not much on accuracy. Language is the instrument the students use to complete the task. Some great examples of tasks include playing games, finding information, and even solving problems. By using them, students will generate their own language and create a language acquisition opportunity.

6. The Natural Approach – It is a language teaching approach that claims that languages are learned in the same way that people naturally learn their native language. This draws on the connection between studying the first and second languages and adheres to a communicative approach to teaching. In this method, learners benefit by being introduced to a vocabulary that they can comprehend or interpret. In this approach communication is considered the primary function of language therefore it focuses on teaching communicative abilities. In other words, language is viewed as a vehicle for communicating meaning and messages and vocabulary is very important to achieve this. So, this means that language acquisition takes place when the learner understands messages in the target language and has developed sufficient vocabulary. In fact it, according to the Natural approach, should be easier to reconstruct a message containing just vocabulary items than one containing just the grammatical structures.

Being a teacher is not an easy job. The teacher is responsible for the students he teaches, ranging from cognitive to student behavior. Even though it doesn't look physically tiring, it's tired in mind and feeling. Tired mind because a teacher must think hard so the students he teaches can feel happy when studying with him and also can understand what he teaches. In addition, feeling tired because sometimes there are some student behaviors that are difficult to handle and must involve the student's parents. To deal with all this, a professional teacher is needed in carrying out their duties. However, there are not many professional teachers, so we still need other professional teachers in our education.

The status of "professional teacher" is not a matter of determination, but that status is like a dream, can be achieved. That is, teachers who I don’t yet bear the title "professional teacher" can still pursue the title and of course qualifications as professional teachers. To pursue these qualifications, the teachers who are not professional must know the criteria of a professional teacher. The following are the criteria for professional teachers that I got from several writings written by people working in our education:

From the results of reviewing articles containing professional teacher criteria, we can conclude that being a professional teacher is not easy, but becoming a professional teacher is also not something that cannot be achieved by someone. All teachers can achieve professionalism, most importantly continue to strive to renew and improve their qualifications.

Maybe at this time the number of competent and professional teachers is still rare, but with ongoing improvements, hopefully there will be more numbers so that the quality of students being taught will be better and this will also affect the quality of education in a school or the country in a better direction.

Those are reviews from me, hopefully useful, thank you!

Reference:

https://www.quora.com/What-is-your-understanding-about-a-professional-teacher

Education in Indonesia has not yet reached its golden age. Yes, the quality of education in Indonesia still has many shortcomings. Even based on the Education Index issued by Human Development Reports, in 2017, Indonesia ranked seventh at the ASEAN level with a score of 0.622. While at the world level, Indonesia's education ranks 62th out of 70 countries based on a survey conducted by PISA (Program for International Student Assessment).

Let's move on to education in Sweden. Based on an assessment conducted by the Worldwide Educating for the Future Index (WEFFI) in 2019, Sweden ranks fourth out of the ten best education countries.

So what is the difference between Indonesian and Swedish education so that the resulting rank shows significantly different adrift?

At the PAUD or Kindergarten level in Sweden, students have not been taught to read, write and count, but what is taught is about morals and responsible attitudes and disciplined attitudes while playing and singing. It is different from PAUD or kindergarten in Indonesia, which has been taught to read, write and count early on. So the school feels so formal and rigid.

Another difference is that everyone registered at the civil registry office in Sweden will be free from school fees from the elementary to secondary level, different from Indonesia, which, despite the government promoting free education, students still have to buy uniforms, books that are required to be priced quite expensive with personal costs, so that education in Indonesia is not evenly distributed and cannot be felt by every child, especially those from disadvantaged families. Whereas education is a "right" of every human being, and Indonesia should be able to pay more attention to this because it is one of Indonesia's ideals to educate the nation's life that can be achieved with good quality and equitable education.

The next difference is in the teaching system. In Sweden, the maximum number of students in a class is 20 and is accompanied by two teachers. Whereas in Indonesia, public schools usually have at least 40 students and are accompanied by one teacher. Obviously this is very ineffective in the learning process, because one teacher must assess 40 students at a time. So the teacher cannot pay attention to students in more depth. The role of parents in Sweden is also very significant in the process of teaching children, whereas in Indonesia parents are very rarely involved in the education process.

Educational evaluation systems in Sweden and Indonesia are also very well known for their differences. In Sweden the evaluation system applied is a qualitative evaluation, meaning that the assessment is based on student development in attitude and understanding of the subject matter. The evaluation that took place was also carried out very intensely by involving parents of students discussing about the development of their respective children. In Indonesia, the evaluation carried out is a quantitative evaluation, meaning that the assessment is done by giving a value in the form of numbers to students and not explained qualitatively, even the distribution of learning outcomes rarely involves the role of parents.

From the above, it is very clear why the education levels of Sweden and Indonesia are so different. In this case, #IndonesiaMustChange and correct any deficiencies in the education sector, because education is also one of the factors that can advance the nation towards a better direction. It is not only the government that makes these changes, the people must also be proactive in improving the nation. By doing it together, there will be a bright spot in the future towards smart Indonesia.

That was an explanation of the education system between Indonesia and Sweden, hopefully it is useful and we can all be moved to help play a role in advancing the nation. Thank you.

references: